WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 159 



refreshing sea breeze. Had art and judgment contributed 

 their portion to its natural advantages, Pernambuco at this 

 day, would have been a stately ornament to the coast of 

 Brazil. On viewing it, it will strike you that every one has 

 built his house entirely for himself, and deprived public 

 convenience of the little claim she had a right to put in. 

 You would wish that this city, so famous for its harbour, 

 so happy in its climate, and so w^ell situated for commerce, 

 could have risen under the flag of Dido, in lieu of that of 

 Braganza. 



As you walk down the streets, the appearance of the 

 houses is not much in their favour. Some of them are 

 veiy high, and some very low ; some newly whitewashed, 

 and others stained, and mouldy, and neglected, as though 

 they had no owner. 



The balconies, too, are of a dark and gloomy appearance. 

 They are not, in general, open, as in most tropical cities, 

 but grated like a farmer's dairy window, though somewhat 

 closer. 



There is a lamentable want of cleanliness in the streets. 

 The impurities from the houses, and the accumulation of 

 litter from the beasts of burden, are unpleasant sights to 

 the passing stranger. He laments the want of a police as 

 he goes along ; and when the wind begins to blow, his nose 

 and eyes are too often exposed to a cloud of very unsavoury 

 dust. 



When you view the port of Pernambuco, full of ships of 

 all nations, when you know that the richest commodities of 

 Europe, Africa, and Asia, are brought to it ; when you see 

 immense quantities of cotton, dye-wood, and the choicest 

 fruits pouring into the town, you are apt to wonder at the 

 little attention these people pay to the common comforts 

 which one always expects to find in a large and opulent 

 city. However, if the inhabitants are satisfied, there is 



